Develop effective partnerships

Develop effective partnerships

Our partnerships are vital to our success, and we continue to seek new opportunities for collaboration whilst strengthening existing ties.

Imperial is renowned for its wealth of collaborations across disciplines, with other institutions, and with industry. From 2013–2016, Imperial shared research awards with 114 UK organisations and co-authored publications with over 500 UK organisations.

We work with academic institutions, charities, government and industrial partners to find answers and solutions to research challenges, and our collaborations produce unique advances that we would not achieve alone. Research partnerships involve a process of continual communication, co-creation and co-design, where new research challenges arise in the course of discovery and lead to further breakthroughs.

Our close ties with the NHS are exemplified by the Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC), which ensures that Imperial research is translated into advances in human health. The AHSC partnership comprises the College, the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, The partnership’s vision is to reduce the burden of disease through a focus on detection, diagnosis and treatment. Patients seen at an AHSC partner Trust benefit from some of the best outcomes in the UK, as research translates into outstanding care.

"Imperial shared research awards with 114 UK organisations and co-authored publications with over 500 UK organisations."

We are partners of the The Francis Crick Institute, the Rosalind Franklin Institute, and the Henry Royce Institute, among other major UK government backed institutions. We also work with CERN and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and host five Medical Research Council Centres. Through Imperial Consultants, the College’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Imperial researchers have supported over 400 companies from 29 countries with consultancy services. Such partnerships act as focal points for research, enabling researchers and companies to work together and make a fundamental difference.

Robot DE NIRO is the Robot Intelligence Lab’s largest robot and has the ability to safely tackle complex manipulation tasks and move autonomously around dynamically changing environments. The robot has been developed as a healthcare tool and might one day provide support for caregivers and offer direct interaction with patients.

Our approach

Dyson School of Design Engineering

The Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial was funded by a generous donation from the James Dyson Foundation. The School teaches a four-year Master of Engineering degree in Design Engineering, alongside the world renowned MA/MSc Innovation Design Engineering and MA/MSc Global Innovation Design, both offered with the Royal College of Art.

The curriculum, designed in partnership with Dyson engineers to ensure industry relevance, blends technical discipline with creativity. It challenges students to develop tangible and compelling products, as well as giving them the commercial know-how to make the products a commercial success.

Cancer Research UK Imperial Centre

The Cancer Research UK Imperial Centre is a partnership between Imperial College London, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Cancer Research UK. The Centre facilitates interdisciplinary collaborations between scientists and clinical academics to translate research of the highest quality into patient benefit. The Centre offers a Development Fund to support collaborative research and facilitates translational research through its facilities, events and workshops.

The Centre has a strong focus on breast, ovarian and colorectal cancers with large clinical/academic teams working in these areas. There are also teams working on cancers of unmet need (lung, pancreatic, glioma, oesophageal), and there is recognised expertise in prostate cancer research and in haemato-oncology.